On Tuesday, the Kremlin announced that the process of implementing oil production cuts by OPEC+ will take time.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov affirmed President Vladimir Putin’s scheduled visits to the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia on Wednesday as well as acknowledged Putin’s plans to welcome Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in Moscow on Thursday.
Russia works together with the entire OPEC+ group, which includes three countries.
The group has just announced that they’re voluntarily cutting the oil supply even more than they have already; however, the oil market isn’t fully convinced.
After the OPEC+ announcement last week, there was a 2% drop in oil prices. Still, Brent crude futures demonstrated resilience on Tuesday.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said, “There are certain processes of inertia in the oil market; it is very big and heavy. Therefore, sometimes the effect is delayed. Therefore, coordination will continue.”
When questioned about whether Putin would address oil market collaboration during his Gulf visit, Peskov said, “These discussions are held within the OPEC+ format, but of course, cooperation in this area is always on the agenda.”
Yury Ushakov, Putin’s foreign policy adviser, said the OPEC+ collaboration between Saudi Arabia and Russia has been “fruitful.”
Ushakov said, “The fairly close Russian-Saudi coordination in this format is a reliable guarantee of maintaining a stable and predictable situation in the global oil market.”
The Kremlin then confirmed that Putin is set to have talks with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman about how they can further collaborate within OPEC+.
Putin and the crown prince played an important part in making the 2016 deal that started the OPEC+ group, which includes the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies, led by Russia.
Vladimir Putin to visit UAE and Saudi Arabia this week https://t.co/LkN0pAwtQx
— Financial Times (@FT) December 5, 2023
Putin’s trip to the Gulf comes after the recent decision made by OPEC+ last Thursday to carry out voluntary cuts in oil supply, totaling around 2.2 million barrels per day (bpd). This involves maintaining the ongoing voluntary reductions from both Saudi Arabia and Russia, adding up to 1.3 million bpd.
Apart from energy issues, Putin wants to strengthen ties with the Gulf countries as part of his plan to create alliances with non-Western nations globally. His effort aims to emphasize what he claims is the lack of effectiveness by the United States and its allies in isolating Russia through sanctions related to the war in Ukraine.
